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Transforming Lives

Mohammad Yasin Paktin works in financial software for his new employer.

A year after graduating from Kabul University, Mohammad had gone on numerous interviews, but had yet to land a job. When interviewers asked him to show his practical skills with financial software, most often QuickBooks, he couldn’t do it. “In the university there was no chance of practical work in financial software,” he says.

Independent Consultant Agreement (ICA) staff yield assessment training in Dehdadi district of Balkh province.

Mohammad Dawood, a farmer from Dara Zhowandoon village of central Aybak, had sown six jeribs (1.2 hectares) of wheat this season that were largely infested with weeds. Having attended RADP-North’s weed control training, he applied herbicides to control them.

Mursal Naseer checking the schedule mechanics for the USAID-funded Arghandi-Ghazni Transmission Line Project.

Mursal Naseer was an architecture student at the Civil Engineering Faculty of Kabul Polytechnic University when she joined the 2011-2016 Afghan Women Engineering Internship Program (AESP) in January 2016. The program provided internship opportunities for female students enrolled in civil, mechanical, electrical or architectural engineering and related programs in their final academic years.

“The program laid out a clear career path for me,” Bilqis said.

Getting into Afghanistan civil service is not an easy thing to do, especially for women with no professional experience. But the situation is changing these days, thanks to the USAID Promote: Women in Government whose aim is to train women for government jobs that will eventually position them in decision-making roles.

Ghada, first female CT scan operator at Jawzjan hospital

Health care professionals and the general public perceive the need for human capital investment and skills development in the Afghan medical sector; investment into the sector is needed as is the availability of qualified staff proficient in the use of medical technology. Internships provided through USAID Promote: Women in the Economy (WIE) are giving Afghan women the work experience they need to find jobs in the healthcare sector.

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